University of North Carolina Hospitals Program

Program Identity & Fit

UNC's EM residency is a university-based program built on a deliberate dual-site structure: roughly two-thirds of training occurs at UNC Medical Center, an 804-bed academic level-one trauma and burn center with 40+ EM faculty engaged in research and education, while one-third occurs at WakeMed in Raleigh, a high-volume (135,000 visits/year) community-staffed trauma center covering pediatric EM through WakeMed Children's ED. This split, augmented by a small community ED experience in Hillsborough, is explicitly designed to expose residents to both academic and private-practice models of emergency medicine rather than push a single career pathway. The program supports named fellowships (Geriatrics, EMS, Global EM, Pediatric EM, Ultrasound, Research, Education, Administration/Leadership) and concentration tracks, plus dedicated research infrastructure (ISHTaR, ISTEM) signaling that scholarly work is encouraged and readily accessible, though not positioned as the program's central identity. The department emphasizes selecting residents who are personable, hard-working, and community-oriented team members, consistent with its stated goal of exposing trainees to "the variety of career paths available" in EM.